Big Start Assemblies is a web-based library originally created as a primary school resources for use in Key Stage 1 & 2 Collective Worship/assembly time. However churches and parents teaching their children at home can now also subscribe.  It offers packaged resources with multimedia, scripts and walkthroughs as well as individually downloadable songs or visual illustrations for unpacking a range of themes and values.

Schools, Churches and now Home Use for parents and home educators, however the resources were originally written for Key Stage 1 & 2 pupils to be delivered in school assemblies and Collective Worship.

Big Start Assemblies is now available to schools, churches and those who wish to use these materials in the home such as parents and home educators.  These ready-to-use materials were originally written for schools but we have been asked on a number of occasions to expand the areas where they can be used.  Just Sign Up from the home page stating whether you are a School, church or Home Use application and the prices are set accordingly.  Enjoy!!

Yes.  Big Start Assemblies, though originally written for schools, can now be used in churches and even your own Home.  Just choose the subscription that best meets your need and away you go…

When you subscribes, you get full access to the Big Start Assemblies library. Alongside the packaged assemblies there are song packs you can use in other assemblies and visual/practical illustrations you might want to use for small group reflection or larger assemblies. Subscribers get access to everything available on the website at that time and are licenced to use all the resources but are limited to 40 downloads per 12 month subscription.

Packaged assemblies include walkthrough Word documents,  scripts, PowerPoint, embedded story videos and countdown animations and songs . Lyric videos are available for every song and often including backing track versions and/or sheet music.

When you break down everything that is thrown in, it’s an amazing deal!

Pricing is banded and based on the size of the school or church….or in the case of Home Use there is one fixed fee per year per household.. This is to keep things fair and to enable small schools  and churches to access these amazing resources on their budgets. To see the prices go to the home page and choose School, Church or Home Use.

You can sign up for a free trial or full membership on the website. There are multiple links on the home page where you can apply as a School, Church or Home Use subscriber.  By clicking the appropriate Sign Up button you will be taken to a set of subscriptions based as to the size of your school or church…or a fixed fee application form for Home Users.   Just complete the form and pay the relevant subscription and away you go – 124 ready to use resources ready to download value or theme!!

Currently all our assemblies are written in English. We are exploring whether we might be able to introduce a limited number of welsh assemblies in Wales in future.

Big Start Assemblies has been created by Essential Christian. Essential Christian resource and inspire Christians and local churches through events, holidays, books, music and professional services. Big Start began at Spring Harvest – Essential Christian’s premier family event which happens each Easter. Many of the same people who contribute to Spring Harvest also contribute to Big Start assemblies including leading creatives, filmmakers, writers and storytellers.

We have tried to ensure our resources work across the maximum number of computers and systems possible. With the huge variance in school IT systems we cannot guarantee technical compatibility with every computer. Our minimum recommended specifications are:

Windows: Operating System – Windows 7 or above. We recommend Microsoft Office 2013 or above. You can run the materials on Microsoft Office 2007 or 2010, but you will need to install Quicktime Player for Windows or VLC For Windows in order for the videos to play. You will probably need to speak to your IT support team to install Quicktime player or VLC. 

Mac: Operating System – OSX 10.7 Lion or above. Microsoft Office 2008 or above. Please note that opening PowerPoint or Word Documents in iWork may result in formatting changes and unexpected results.

Please note that users of Internet Explorer may occasionally encounter issues with the website and downloading. If you experience this, please try using an alternative internet browser.

So many great assemblies, not sure where to start?

We have produced two simple calendars to help you quickly plan and use our assemblies. These are entirely optional and you are free to mix and match as you like.

The Series-Based Assembly Calendar, helps spread out the values over the whole year, whilst allowing continuity as you follow a series of assemblies. This calendar also takes account of annual festivals or special days. There are three full academic cycles available – Cycle A, B and C– which can be downloaded here.

Alternatively, you might like to use, the Value-Based 3-Year Plan. With this plan, we have reshuffled all three years’ worth of assemblies, and reordered them so that you can fill a whole term, focusing on just one (occasionally two) values. You can download this plan here.

The free trial gives you access to a couple of our packaged assemblies. You get a login, which allows you to peruse the full library, but you are only able to download the free assemblies. You are allowed to use these and pass them on to others. To access all the assemblies you will need to subscribe for either a school, church or household.

The free trial is unlimited. It will never run out and you will always have access to the free assemblies available at the time. These may occasionally be refreshed but to access all the assemblies you will need to upgrade.

We don’t automatically upgrade you or send you an invoice. When you sign up for the free trial we take only the minimum amount of information needed to setup your account. We don’t take any billing details and there is no obligation to upgrade. We may occasionally contact you explaining the benefits of upgrading, but you can opt out of these at any time.

If you already have a free trial you can upgrade by clicking on the “Upgrade Now” button in the pink bar at the top of the page when you are logged in. Your upgrade will keep the same username so if you need to create a new username using your school’s information, then you can always start the sign up process from scratch here.

A subscription is when a school signs up to be a Big Start Assemblies member for a year. When you are a paid subscriber you have access to the full library of resources which you can view of download.

A licence is the permission to use resources in your school. Active members (schools who are subscribed for that academic year) are automatically licenced to use the resources in their school.

If a subscription is ended or lapses, your licence to use Big Start Assemblies materials also comes to an end. This means that even if you have pre-downloaded assemblies on your computer, you are not allowed to use them. Using resources without a licence is in breach of copyright law.

The one exception in the case of Big Start Assemblies is in the use of songs. Big Start Assemblies includes lots of songs, mp3s, lyric videos and sheet music. At all times, whether an active or lapsed member, using a song in you classroom or assembly will require you to record its use with CCLI (see “What’s CCLI and why is it important?”). You can keep singing the same songs in your assemblies even after ending a Big Start Assemblies subscription, as long as you continue to complete your CCLI record and include any songs used.

A Big Start Assemblies membership allows you to access and download the full library of resources on the Big Start Assembly website. This includes all videos, songs, documents and other assets packaged in the assemblies. You are then permitted to use these in your school community for as long as your subscription remains active.

The licence allows you to use these with your school, church or house named in the application. This will generally be within your school, church or home, but if you occasionally hold assemblies/Collective Worship on different premises this is also included. It does not allow use of the resources in other schools or churches (unless this is the location of school assemblies) or other households not names on the application form.

If you decide to stop your subscription or allow your subscription to lapse by not paying the invoice then you should cease using Big Start Assemblies resources. The only exception is the resources included in the free trial (your account will revert to the free trial account).

You may also continue to sing songs that your children have learned whilst using Big Start Assemblies but need to ensure you record their usage on your CCLI licence. (see “What’s CCLI and why is it important?”)

Each subscription has a login which they can share with others who use these resources.

Anyone operating on behalf of and with permission of a school or church with an active subscription may use Big Start Assemblies resources to prepare or lead Collective Worship, assemblies, classroom reflections or other sessions directly linked with the life of the school and with the pupils of the school. This may include teachers, staff as well as visiting clergy, speakers or schools workers.

For Home Use subscriptions, anyone within the one names household can use these resources.

Permission is required to produce song sheets, copy sheet music or project song words onto a big screen for pupils to sing. CCLI’s licences provide that permission on behalf of many of the publishers whose songs are commonly used in assemblies, easing the cost and administrative burden of copyright on schools.

Many schools are not aware that the Schools Printed Music Licence (SPML) currently provided by the CLA (Copyright Licensing Agency) does not cover the use of songs in assemblies and during times of Collective Worship. CCLI’s licences fill this gap, permitting the fair and legal use of songs in this context whilst ensuring songwriters and rights holders are fairly paid for the use of their work. The law is clear on copyright. CCLI helps ensure your school is too.

Yes, we now offer these resources to schools, churches and for home use.  See “What if I am not a school?”

You can email support@bigstartassemblies.org to cancel your subscription at any time. Alternatively, if you fail to pay an invoice ahead of your next renewal, your account will be downgraded on 31st July and return to a free trial. To delete an account entirely please email us.

If you decide not to renew, or wish to end your subscription, your account will be automatically downgraded to the free trial on 31st July.

Big Start Assemblies subscriptions work to academic cycles rather than from the date you sign up (see “When will I be billed?”)

Our cycle runs from 31^st July for one year. Shortly after 31^st July we will upload and make available the new assemblies and content for that year. We chose this date to counteract the variety of dates in September that schools start back on, and to allow teachers the ability to login, download and plan assemblies over the summer should they so wish.

If you are part of a network of schools, a multi-academy trust, or a diocese and wish to licence a number of schools simultaneously then you may wish to consider a multi-licence. Multi-licences allow for the combined central payment of multiple licences. It also offers special discounts depending on the number of licences you are purchasing. For every additional school you earn 5% off the total price of all schools (e.g. 5% off two schools, 10% off three schools, 15% off four schools, etc.). The maximum multi-licence discount available is 50% off for 11 or more schools. This can offer a substantial saving. You can choose a multi-licence option when going through the sign up process. Please note, this type of licence may take longer to setup while we confirm details of the schools being licenced.

If you are licencing 100 or more schools then a bespoke licence will be arranged. Please contact support@bigstartassemblies.org.

Your invoices are automatically generated and emailed to you. They are also viewable in your account when logged in.

Memberships work on academic cycles. If you are signing up for the first time you will need to choose whether to licence your school immediately or for the next academic cycle. If you opted for immediately, you will receive an invoice straight away. Upon the clearing of your payment, your account will automatically go live and run until 31st July. If you opted for the next academic cycle you have until 31st July to pay your invoice, your account will then automatically go live on 31st July and remain active for a whole year.

For renewals, all accounts renew on 31st July (regardless of when you initially signed up). You should therefore pay your invoice before this date to ensure your account remains live.

Click the pink “log in” box in the top right corner of the website. If you don’t have an account you will need to create one first (see, “How do I sign up?”).

See, “How do I sign up?”

If you have forgotten your password then, after making an incorrect password attempt, a link will appear allowing you to email a newly generated password to the account primary contact. If you are logged in, you can change you password by going to the pink “My Account” button the top right hand side of the page. If you scroll to the bottom you will see a link to “Change Password”.

Login and go to the pink “My Account” button the top right hand side of the page. From here you can update all your account and contact details.

If you are a paid school subscriber, it is possible to create user accounts. These are linked to your schools membership but can be created for individual members of staff, or for general school use. These user accounts have all the download and viewing privileges of the main account, but prevent people accessing the billing and primary contact information. User accounts are not available to multi-licence schools or free trials. When an account lapses or renews, all the user accounts will do likewise.

Make sure you are logged in. If you are only on the free trial you will only be able to download the free assemblies.

You can download resources by finding them in the resources library and clicking onto the name of the resource or “view” button. When you are viewing the assembly/resource page you will see a pink bar beneath the picture which triggers the download.

Each assembly package contains all you need to prepare and lead that assembly. This is primarily through the PowerPoint file and the walkthrough Word document. The walkthrough guides you through each section of the assembly with tips, scripts and information about how to run each section. The walkthrough matches up to the pre-prepared PowerPoint presentation. All the videos and animations in the assembly are already embedded and set to play automatically as you run through. All you need to do is cut out any sections you didn’t want to use and go!

The packaged folder may also contain some additional assets for the assembly. Often this will include a backing track version of any songs used, the sheet music and possibly any illustrations or how-to videos.

We provide a generous amount of content for each assembly. For many you could potentially have in excess of 45 minutes worth of content. This is because we expect teachers to remove some sections or choose the bits they want to use.

A .zip file is how your files will initially be downloaded. This is a packaged file that includes all the files and assets for the assembly in one download. Most computers will automatically ‘unzip’ the folder and allow you to access what’s inside. On some PCs however you might need a specific programme like WinZip. If in doubt speak to your school’s IT support and they should be able to advise you.

Some computers will not open files from directly inside an unzipped folder. If you are experiencing trouble, you might need to drag and drop the files onto your desktop or somewhere else on your computer.

If your folder is still ‘zipped’, you may need to unzip it first before you can access the documents. (Read, “It’s downloaded as a .zip file – what do I do?”

 Check that you have Microsoft Office installed on your computer if trying to open PowerPoint presentations or Word documents.

Some computers will not open files from directly inside an unzipped folder. If you are experiencing trouble, you might need to drag and drop the files onto your desktop or somewhere else on your computer.

We have tried to ensure our resources work across the maximum number of computers and systems possible. With the huge variance in school IT systems we cannot guarantee technical compatibility with every computer. Our minimum recommended specifications are:

Windows: Operating System – Windows 7 or above. We recommend Microsoft Office 2013 or above. You can run the materials on Microsoft Office 2007 or 2010, but you will need to install Quicktime Player for Windows or VLC For Windows in order for the videos to play. You will probably need to speak to your IT support team to install Quicktime player or VLC. 

Mac: Operating System – OSX 10.7 Lion or above. Microsoft Office 2008 or above. Please note that opening PowerPoint or Word Documents in iWork may result in formatting changes and unexpected results.

Please note that users of Internet Explorer may occasionally encounter issues with the website and downloading. If you experience this, please try using an alternative internet browser.

We encourage teachers and those using the resources to adapt and make their own changes to the assembly resources. You know your school, pupils and leading style best so feel free to chop, change and make it your own. We have even included some extra assets at the end of the assembly to help you create your own assemblies or slides.

You are not permitted to redistribute or repackage assemblies even after adaption for use by others outside of your school. We would however love to hear about your changes on our Facebook page or on the respective assembly’s download page in the comments section.

Wherever we can, we try to include backing track versions of songs. Often these are not available anywhere else and are used with special permission of the record label/artists. As standard versions embedded in the PowerPoint include a lead singer, but in your downloaded folder you should find other versions of the song and any sheet music. If you wanted to use the backing track version, all you need to do is remove the default song video from the PowerPoint slide and drop in the backing track version.

All of the media used in a PowerPoint presentation is actually stored inside the ‘pptx’ file you open to run the presentation.

It is possible to open this file up and extract the video file which you are having problems playing in order that you can run the video in a standalone video player application such
as VLC Media Player.

Follow these instructions to extract the video file you need.

Due to the huge variety of computers, systems and software that schools use, we cannot guarantee that resources will always appear as they should. We have worked hard to ensure as great compatibility as we can but occasionally different versions of operating systems or software like Microsoft Office can cause things to appear slightly differently. We recommend that you check through each assembly before using to ensure it all appears as expected. You may need to tweak things if they don’t look right.

See, “What are the technical requirements for using Big Start Assemblies?”

Assemblies/Collective Worship can be very short. We recognise that we provide a lot of material and you probably won’t be able to use it all. We would therefore encourage you to take sections from assemblies and use them at other places in school life. This could be by stretching an assembly out over a couple of days, or emailing around a section for teachers to use as a classroom reflection.

As long as it is used by the school community only (e.g. not sent for use by another school/organisation) then you can use the materials as you wish!

Occasionally we recruit particularly proactive, experienced or prolific ambassadors to be a part of our much smaller Big Start Trainer team. This brings with it an increased commission benefit (15% recurring) and specific training to lead regional training days for teachers and schools in leading Big Start Assemblies. These training days are paid and you would be working on behalf of Big Start Assemblies in delivering these sessions.

If you are interested in writing or producing content for Big Start Assemblies please get in touch with us at support@bigstartassemblies.org outlining your experience, expertise and area that you are interested in contributing to. We work with a network of freelancers and organisations who help create our content and resources and are always looking for fresh ideas and talent.